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Author Topic: How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?  (Read 91 times)

relaxxx

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« on: December 15, 2009, 09:54:00 PM »

I've tried reballing. it is an extremely involved process in which every step must be executed perfectly. Ive heard professional with professional equipment only having about a 50% success rate. First the GPU and board must be heated properly in the right increments and timing to remove the CPU without breaking any of the 800 or so BGA contact pads on the motherboard and CPU substrate. Keep in mind that if the 360 has had the x-clamp replacement mod or improper reflow attempted then this greatly increases the chance that some of these pads are already damages or weakened. Then all 800 pads need to be cleaned and solder paste applied perfectly from a template which can be very tedious or manually applied through various insanely tedious methods then re-soldered with proper timing and temperatures.

I've gotten as far as desoldering and cleaning only to find 1 or 2 out of 800 BGA pads were damaged. Of course I only attempted this on dead 360's that failed to work after being reflowed so the pads were probably damaged before I got to them. I also experimented with different balling methods just to give myself an idea if it was worth a full attempt.  I figure I could probably reball a good GPU if my life depended on it but I'd want to get a least a grand for all the work.  

IMO reballing is not worth the $100's and $100's of dollars worth of highly specialized professional rework labor. If you find a site offering cheap reballing they are probably just reflowing and ripping people off. An honest reflow service would certainly need to calculate at least a 30% if not 50% failure rate since more often than not broken 360's have been tampered and abused by armature "fixes" that actually cause permanent damage.

It is a lot more cost effective to just reflow the GPU properly and then fix the cause of the problem (which is heat) by fixing the fan speed and shroud ducting to the GPU runs cool.
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niai

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2009, 07:50:00 PM »

i would say get a jasper there failure rate is very low M$ seem to have got it right at last

even if you reball the board could still bend or the memory chips come loose
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relaxxx

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2009, 11:17:00 AM »

ANY 360 system, even Xenon will be fine if the fan and shroud are FIXED BEFORE the RROD ever happens. The problem is most people wait until there is damage (RROD) before even trying to fix the defects.

And the defect is NOT the xclamp unless on rare occasions when its causing the board to warp from not fitting properly between the board and case. Other than that the clamps are peachy fine. It's all about the airflow over the GPU, that is the only real defect, and it's an easy fix.
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under420dog

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2009, 05:53:00 PM »

Ive heard professional with professional equipment only having about a 50% success rate.


then there not a pro at it are they????...fail.....

most other professionals like me and my crew and others that take there time do this at 100%...this is why it is done...
and yes most pros charge over 100 but it is also guaranteed for a time span...and  resealed...remember it costs to run the machines and supply the parts..
and re-flowing and re-balling are 2 different things........geese get your rummors straight if your going to spread them around....

and jaspers fail to...not as much as the older units...this is because they have a 65mn CPU/GPU and run cooler...
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under420dog

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2009, 09:11:00 PM »

QUOTE(booker21 @ Dec 17 2009, 09:00 PM) View Post

so you would recommend me to do the reballing instead of buying a new one?
right?


yep.......smile.gif

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relaxxx

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2009, 07:29:00 AM »

QUOTE(under420dog @ Dec 17 2009, 08:53 PM) View Post

most other professionals like me and my crew and others that take there time do this at 100%...this is why it is done...



Are you saying you can guarantee 100% success on a board that failed reflows and x-clamp mods?

Simply impossible, they are physically damaged at that point.
They don't have 100% at the manufacturing plant FFS!
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booker21

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2009, 07:23:00 PM »

Im outside US, this is actually the most expensive option on my case... well maybe not the most expensive, but still expensive.

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under420dog

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2009, 07:47:00 PM »

QUOTE(rastaman108037 @ Dec 18 2009, 10:38 AM) View Post

You guys overlook the best alternative:

-Buy a broken 360 on craigslist for $40
-Register it
-Send it in to microsoft for repair
-Brand new 360 comes in the mail.

It will cost you 0$ if you sell your broken 360 on CL as well.


whats that got to do with re-flowing and re-balling...


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under420dog

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2009, 08:15:00 PM »

QUOTE(relaxxx @ Dec 18 2009, 08:29 AM) View Post

Are you saying you can guarantee 100% success on a board that failed reflows and x-clamp mods?

Simply impossible, they are physically damaged at that point.
They don't have 100% at the manufacturing plant FFS!


unless the board is warped badly and burnt from noobs that did the towel trick or think there a great MR. fixer....
yes it's 100%(if you or others can accept that ..it's not our problem!)....we and others have pushed out over 500+ units every quarter year since 2005... and maybe 2 a month would come back due to USER touching something they don't know about...or a totally different issue...
and what's m$ got to do with this...this is after the fact....and this is why we do what we do.....

Simply impossible is applied to persons that don't know or understand logic.....
and if your bashing the pro world...good luck we really don't care ..were to busy in the real world fixing electronics that have manufacture flaws .....

take it as you wish...think what you want....it really don't matter...but please quit spreading your negativity in this post ...it's not worth it logic destroys your rumors.....


sure the success rate of the jaspers are good think about why....if you can't, then continue being left in the dark....


good day!



QUOTE(booker21 @ Dec 18 2009, 08:23 PM) View Post

Im outside US, this is actually the most expensive option on my case... well maybe not the most expensive, but still expensive.


most good shops that are honest charge a bit yes.because you fixing a manufacture flaw.. not to say all the equipment and time involved into it ..not saying all can do this but this is why they should carry a guarantee...
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relaxxx

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How Reliable Is The Reballing Fix?
« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2009, 09:07:00 AM »

fine udog, prove it. l'll send you some boards and we'll see. pm with your deets and lets do this.
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